Random photos from this month

fresh friday

Lately it’s been rainy and stormy in Honolulu. I really don’t know what to wear these days. One day it’s cold, the next, I’m dying in the heat. Make up your mind mother nature! I took this photo outside my house before heading to a birthday dinner. You can never go wrong with shorts and a tee – just make sure you dress it up a bit. All accessories – eBay. Comfy sandals – Aerosoles. Headband – Etsy.

art and flea

Last Thursday, I had the chance to stop by Art & Flea at Fresh Cafe on Queen Street. I must admit this is the best night I’ve had at this particular event (even though I stayed less than an hour). My boss set up shop and marketed her beautiful jewelry. A few of my fave items from that night were the hand-painted mermaid tiles, and the Día de los Muertos earrings.

galactic

Este es “El Jefe.” I used this pretty galaxy app to change him into a galactic creature. Isn’t he cute?

All photos from Instagram.

Birthday at The Study

mom and i

My mom flew in for my birthday! It’s been 11 years since I’ve spent/celebrated my birthday with her.

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This time around, I wanted a chill, relaxing birthday so my mom, family and friends went to The Study, which is a cute, little lounge at The Modern Honolulu hotel, to grab some drinks listen to Yoza & JRoq play some acoustic r&b.

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Cheers!

-3Big mahalo to Yoza & JRoq for playing my fave songs last night. Yoza did her rendition of Selena’s “No me queda más” and JRoq was awesome with her rap skills. You can’t beat live, r&b music on the island with these two funny characters.

Thanks to my family and friends for coming out and making me feel special on my birthday!

A new year indeed

IB Floral Pants

The new year has been pretty mellow so far. I’m taking it slow, observing any changes in luck…like a ninja…waiting for some kind of excitement to strike!

IB Ozoni Soup

No excitement yesterday either. My grandmother and I welcomed the new year with some traditional Japanese ozoni soup. My uncle makes it with lots of mizuna (mustard greens), clams, taro, shiitake mushrooms and mochi.

Lanikai Pillbox Hike

IB Lanikai Pillbox copyI’m not the kind of girl that hikes. I don’t look like a hiker nor act like one. But FoodographyHI is one of those people that make anything treacherous or physically painful seem exciting and adventurous. She convinced me to do the Lanikai Pillbox Hike with her yesterday and we died many times before making it to the top. We had a little spat about making it up that last part because I didn’t want to fall off the cliff and get killed. But again, she convinced me with the “we made it all the way up here, what’s another five minutes?” speech. As terrified as I was, I managed to climb my way to the top with her and we sat atop the pillbox and enjoyed the view of Kailua, Lanikai and Waimanalo. It was worth it.

The hardest part of the hike was actually going down. I think I fell a good six times due to the worn out traction on my sneakers. I got some cuts and scrapes to prove it!

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Inside of the pillbox, there were some tags and this awesome artwork. I didn’t get a good photo of the outside (which had a snowman and some Christmas designs), but the inside was pretty cool.

Thanks to FoodographyHI for pushing me to the top. It’s awesome to feel that fear inside you once in a while, it makes you feel alive! That’s my take on the last adrenaline rush for 2012. Peace.

A “gypster” and her bold prints

IBgoofy

Last night my friends and I planned to attend Art & Flea at Fresh Cafe. The theme was an “Ugly Sweater Christmas Party” so we tried to find ugly sweaters and anything “Christmasy.” I only had a funky old sweater from Ross and a scarf so I threw that on and left the house looking like a gypsy. Hipster. Gypster. Anyway, it was freezing (yes, freezing for an island girl!) and rainy, we only made it to the entrance and decided to have dinner instead.

IBblackwhitenavy

Earlier that day, I posted a top I found on eBay for $4. Not bad for #thriftythursday, huh?

Art & Flea’s Ugly Sweater Party

 

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Nattolee Jewelry >>> Honolulu, HI

0108e62c3bf111e2b7ea22000a1faf3c_7I finally got these babies in the mail! My high school classmate, Natalie Woo, is a well known jewelry designer here in Honolulu. Her pieces are so unique and trendy, a bunch of local boutiques sell her work and you’ll most likely see one of her pieces on other local fashion blogs. She posts her latest items on Instagram on a weekly basis, so when I saw these, I had to have them! She might have more black arrowhead and Buddha necklaces available at Fighting Eel Downtown.

 

La luna llena >>> The full moon

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No podía capturar la luna llena este miércoles pasado, pero aprendí mucho de la fotografía de mi nuevo amigo Tommy. No sé mucho de mi cámara, mi especialidad es en diseño gráfico, entonces, tuve que cambiar la saturación y la exposición para estar satisfecha con mis fotos. Saqué esta foto de un sitio antes de llegar a la playa de Makapu’u. Aquí puedes ver las nubes, la luna, la silueta de la montaña y las estrellas también. ¡El cielo estaba hermoso!

Aquí es la foto de Tommy. Obviamente es mejor que mía. Él es un fotógrafo que conocí el mes pasado y me dio muchos consejos sobre la exposición y la composición de una foto. (Su especialidad es la fotografía de bodas y familias.)

I’m not satisfied with my photos from that night. They’re pretty blurry. But oh well, todos aprendemos de nuestros errores.

Thanksgiving, Wicked + Christmas Trees

I’m definitely feeling the holiday spirit this year! Thanksgiving was really nice. I was lucky enough to spend some quality time with my family and friends. These past few months have been crazy and I’ve missed hanging out with my family at the dinner table. The photo above is what I wore. Yep, big button down shirt and my fat pants. Haha! Although I didn’t really eat much at dinner. Turkey, mashed potatoes and stuffing are really not my thing. So I was all about the dessert. (Also, I shaved the side of my head again. Hehe!)

The next day, my boss gave my co-worker Lauren & I tickets to the Wicked show at Blaisdell. So I had to download the book to get the full story on the witches of Oz. There’s nothing like a fun book & a green tea latte.

Here’s a photo from today! We got a cute little Christmas tree at work. 🙂